First band of the day, Bonded By Blood took us back to the late eighties in a great way. These guys are so young, yet obviously have their influences right. Sounding like the good old, wild thrash of the past these guys tore up the stage with a similar sound to Vio-lence and such bands, and really left a great impression. A reward for anyone waking up early.

Criminally the fathers of brutal death metal Suffocation were only second on the billing. You would have expected that they would have blown the earth away beneath your feet, but today their performance matched their running in the bill with a set with a lot of newer material. Suffocation are still Suffocation, but but we all know that they just aren't putting out what they used to. A brutal finishing of "Infecting The Crypts" closed the set on a high note however, but overall the set provided nothing of great note.

Nearly thirty years of existence, Holy Moses were in England for the first time in... who knows how long. This was definitely the band's first UK festival performance ever anyhow, and because of that, not many people really knew who this band were and the audience numbers were really low. Holy Moses are always a decent band live though, and their thrashier material sounded great with Sabina giving all her efforts. This show was apparently, as she said, "the best breakfast I've ever had". Hopefully this will have opened a few more doors for the band over in this country.

The second of the German women, this time the queen of metal herself Doro. The audience was significantly bigger, significantly louder, and up for a sing-along. She seemed keen on taking us all back to the glorious eighties with an almost entire Warlock set with songs like "Burning The Witches" and "Metal Racer". For this relatively early time, the audience were in superb voice to sing along to "All We Are", and for an extra surprise Sabina from Holy Moses came back onto the stage for a great duet with "Celebrate". It's been a while since Doro has been here, but the audience did not let her down at all.

Still riding the wave of folk popularity, Korpiklaani set the audience on fire. It is this kind of fun band that the British audiences love to prance around and be stupid to. The first half of the set however was more annoying than anything else. Always sounding the same, this stupid music just gets on your nerves if you're not in the mood. The second half of the set proved to be a little more interesting, and actually enjoyable. Either that or the resistances had just been ground down. It was somewhat entertaining, but there is a fine line with Korpiklaani between irritating and great.

Gwar are a one of a kind band that play off anything that is in some way vulgar. Before the set, every speaker, security guy and most photographers were covered in bags and clingfilm in preparation for the abuse that was about to be hurled our way. A Gwar set isn't so much about the music, because let's face it, it's not great. A Gwar set is more like a vile comic book come to life in front of you with various characters such as the pope and Hitler coming forth to either have their heads chopped off, squirt love juice at the audience, or generally sustain some kind of injury that warrants a spraying of blood at the audience. For the rest of the festival people were green and red. Gwar really do put on an entertaining show, this will have been a lot of people's highlight.

This was Bloodbath's eighth performance live, ever. Waiting for them was a huge audience, seemingly waiting for another glimpse of Mikael Åkerfeldt as screams, even from guys were aimed towards him. Firstly it was slightly strange to see Mikael in such an active role compared to that of his other band. He spoke honestly to the audience, and gave a little history before each song. He stated that Bloodbath started as a tribute to the Swedish death metal scene, and that is exactly what they sounded like. There was no reason for such a fuss over this band apart from perhaps the ferocious death growls of mister Åkerfeldt, because as a band they sounded just like a death metal tribute act with nothing to add themselves. A few moments of blastbeat were great, but other than the catchy "Eaten", this band didn't really have much else to offer.

Now this is how it is done. There is no other way to describe this Cannibal Corpse set, but edging on perfect. The sound was great, the band played great, and most importantly - the thing that Cannibal Corpse actually do is change their set around quite often. We therefore had some songs both new and old that aren't usually played. The trio of "Pounded Into Dust", "Gutted" and "Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains" from the first album was a real blast. There is nothing more you could have wanted from a Cannibal Corpse show, the band just blew the audience away.

Finally, Twisted Sister were to close the festival in the way that only Twisted Sister can. Kicking off with "Come Out And Play" and "The Kids Are Back", the band had a clear message. The audience likewise had a clear message for the band. It has been too long since Twisted Sister have been in this country, and they have been missed. England is the place that this band found their feet in the early days, and the sheer volume and enthusiasm of the audience were genuinely a pleasant surprise for the band who, even though do their shocked-at-how-loud-the-audience-is-routine everywhere they go, really were taken aback this time resulting in Jay Jay urging people to get on the internet and start posting so they have something to show promoters. The band's set had a smash hit around every corner, whether it was "Stay Hungry", "You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll", "We're Not Gonna Take It" where the audience literally exploded, or "I Wanna Rock". We know Twisted Sister have been doing this for many years, and it shows. Dee and the band are masters of reading the audience and knowing the right time to say something, and what to say. The band have done over one hundred festivals since reforming now, and there doesn't seem to be any stopping them, especially now they must come back to England again.

Bloodstock always find a band to close the festival in a spectacular fashion, and this year was no different. Twisted Sister controlled the audience with mastery. There can't have been any person not joining in with "I Wanna Rock", this headline show really did rock.

And so for another year we say goodbye to Bloodstock. This time with the knowledge of one of next year's headliners; Immortal. Overall, this edition of Bloodstock Open Air, even with all the rain, was by far the best planned and organised event the organisers have put on. Hats off to everyone involved in making the UK's number one metal festival another blazing success. Thanks.